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Ten Technology has recenly launched a new FAQ section for the naviPod wireless remote and the yet-to-be-released naviPlay Bluetooth stereo adapter. Our readers have had many questions arise from the announcement of the new naviPlay, two of which regard the transmitting range and sound quality. Included in the new FAQs is the following:

Q: What is the range of the naviPlay?
A: The naviPlay is a Class 2 device and will have a range up to 8 meters (25
feet). Actual range will depend on the amount of activity and interference
in the 2.4 GHz spectrum, as well as the presence of materials that absorb or reflect signals. The naviPlay product is intended for personal use, not as a means to broadcast over a wide area.

Q: What is the quality of the audio provided by the naviPlay?
A: The naviPlay will provide near CD-Audio quality stereo at 44.1 KHz.

Editor’s note: Here are photos of the naviPlay prototype as seen at Macworld SF.

The iPad is a custom made, sliding tray for Volkswagen MK IV vehicles with a factory storage compartment above the stereo unit. The tray allows the iPod dock to be mounted within for easy access while in the vehicle, and allows for storage of an iPod when not in use. The iPad is available now for $59 via PayPal. “I use my iPod daily in my car, and it couldn’t be easier. I simply slide out the tray exposing the dock… dock it… push the tray back in slightly (so the back of the iPod touches the dash) and I’m ready to roll. The placement high up on the dash makes it possible to change the songs and playlist while resting an elbow on the factory armrest.”

‘I would like to see more of this,’ said Jimmy Iovine, chairman of Interscope Geffen A&M, part of Universal Music Group. ‘We’re starting to see technology companies come on our side, now soft drink companies are coming on our side.’”

Although this story is a bit old, The Hollywood Reporter today posted a writeup about how Peter Jackson, writer/director of The Lord of the Rings (LOTR) trilogy and Jim Rygiel, visual effects supervisor, used iPods in the film’s production.

“Media was transferred from Weta to Pinewood Studios in London. There, Jackson’s 30-gig iPod was ready and waiting to upload Weta’s daily fresh-baked shots and sequences. His iPod was then delivered via sneaker net to his home a few minutes away from Pinewood.

Jackson then viewed those 1K-resolution QuickTime files on an Apple Cinema Display, tied to his G4 laptop, which drew directly from his iPod. The director’s setup was mirrored in New Zealand, so Rygiel and crew could step through shots with the help of their iPods, with Jackson’s guidance piped in over a videoconferencing system. During the course of two movies and four months, “Rings” iPods stored and served up nearly one-half terabyte of digitized footage from ‘Towers’ and ‘King.’”

“‘I still can’t get over the fact that these fresh faced teenagers are being attacked by companies just to preserve a business model in need of freshening up itself,” says Wattles. ‘I don’t want my kids treated that way by business and I don’t want other people’s kids treated that way.’

And on the choice of language, ‘Prosecutions are usually understood to be actions by the state to enforce criminal laws,’ he says. ‘Prosecutions aren’t generally understood to mean civil lawsuits. The word ‘sued’ would be appropriate and accurate in this context.

‘The ad falsely pumps up the music industry’s enforcement effort, and its suggestive criminalization of the kids’ behavior building up to the tag line ‘we’re still gonna download music for free off the Internet - and there’s not a thing anyone can do about it,’ reinforces the ad’s presumption that their behavior had been criminal.’”

“So I have to ask: why hasn’t anyone created a utility that can be aimed at various web pages or RSS feeds and grab their contents, convert them into plain-text format, and drop ‘em in the Notes folder of an iPod? Yes, it would require some clever page-scraping, and yes, it would require intelligent splitting and hyperlinking of stories using the bare-bones coding format that the iPod understands.

But still, it shouldn’t be that difficult. While there are some RSS browsers out there for the iPod, they don’t thrill me, because most RSS feeds don’t include the full text of news stories. And I don’t know of any RSS tool for the iPod that actually downloads the contents of the page referenced by the RSS entry. I want to read more than headlines on my iPod; I want to read the whole article!”

Pod Manager allows you to select MP3, MP4 and AAC music files on your iPod and copy them to your Macintosh. It has probably the best interface for accomplishing this when comparing it to other utilities that claim to do the same.

“In 2001 the small firm beat out nine competitors, including Texas Instruments, to provide iPod’s central nervous system. Apple’s in-house designers provide the look and feel that make the iPod so distinctive; PortalPlayer provides the innards that lie beneath. It won over Apple with a design that uses two modest processors and an operating system two years in the making.

PortalPlayer’s “firmware” makes it easy for makers to mix and match features and rapidly stamp out upgrades without having to start from scratch. Apple picked PortalPlayer in the summer of 2001, and the iPod was in stores in November of that year.”

“One of the best things about prognostication is the “I told you so” satisfaction of a successful forecast, so over the past five years, I’ve made sure to point out all of my dead-on predictions. This time, however, I’m admitting to an apparently incorrect hunch. I thought that Apple would forgo an iPod portable video player (PVP), but the company is reportedly working on one. [...]

Last month, the careers page of Apple’s Web site advertised an opening for a video iPod developer. The listing has disappeared, but in this New York Times interview, Jobs mentions that someone in the company’s labs could be working on such a device. He also talks about some of the same doubts and challenges that I’m discussing here, so for the record, my prediction might still come true.”

“Pepsi this week shipped 300 million specially marked 20-ounce bottles of Pepsi, Diet Pepsi and Sierra Mist to convenience stores and other retailers. Consumers who find a numerical code for a free download in the bottle caps can type it into the iTunes program for a free download. [...]

Analysts expect Apple will reap huge rewards from the contest. Analyst Charles Wolf of Wall Street research firm Needham & Co. estimates the firm is selling 2 million songs per week. ‘‘This campaign will get them to 5-10 million per week by summer, or 200 million songs for the year,’’ he says.”

“With the Tune Recycler, you can send us your unwanted iTunes bottlecap codes and we’ll use them to support independent music. Easy for you, and good for music. [...]

When you submit a winning Pepsi code to the Tune Recycler, we’ll redeem it for music from honest, independent labels. There are a few great independent labels in the iTunes store that give their musicians up to 40-50 cents, right from the first sale. When you use the Tune Recycler, you know that no money is going to support price fixing, payola, or lawsuits against families with children—and most importantly, the money goes to a musician. That way, you don’t have to sign up with iTunes to get one song, but you can still put that cap to use.”

An external Li-Ion battery pack solution for iPod has been developed by Battery Technology, Inc (BTI). “Designed for all iPod users, The iPod Battery comes with interchangeable cradles for the original and new iPod and will provide up to 40 hours of music play-time or down-load time, regardless of the age or status of the original (internal) battery.

Dealmac: Buy.com still has the 40GB iPod for $436.74, as a reader notes. A new $10 off coupon, expiring January 31, yields a net price of $426.74, the lowest we know to be available. Shipping starts around $11.

AppleInsider has posted the upcoming Pepsi iTunes Super Bowl commercial featuring 16 teens that were recently sued by the RIAA for illegally downloading music from the Internet. The commercial also features Green Day’s version of ‘I Fought the Law.’

MP3 Gym, the first and only audio personal trainer recorded on mp3 files for Apple’s iPod and other mp3 players announced that members will now have access to 36 new illustrated exercise routine sheets. The MP3 Gym already comes with eight routines and close to 200 mp3 files for $19.95. This just adds to their ever-growing library size. They will be adding a number of new exercise mp3 files and exercise routines in the coming months. Keep checking out the website for updates at www.mp3gym.com

“Today, a record company, radio station, recording group and online music store teamed up to achieve a new level of speed to market in the digital realm.

The exclusive digital EP “From KFOG to iPod” by critically-acclaimed Virgin Recording Group “The Thrills” was released early this morning on Apple’s iTunes Music Store, less than 48 hours after the band recorded the tracks at a KFOG-FM Emerging Artist Concert in San Francisco on Sunday, January 25. Five songs from the show, including the single “One Horse Town” are available for purchase, allowing consumers to download the live recording from iTunes to their Macs or Windows-based PCs and iPods. The entire EP can
be downloaded for $4.95 or single tracks are available until February 24th for 99 cents each.”

MacMinute reports that “Nupha has announced the launch of its international, cross-platform digital music store. The “nupha musicstore” features “a growing library of tunes from many independent music labels” [Ed. note: Selection appears to be very limited at this time.]. Songs on the store are encoded in 128 Kbps AAC for Macs and 192 Kbps WMA for Windows. Nupha is the first independent music provider compatible with Apple’s iTunes (requires Mac OS X 10.3 Panther and iTunes 4 or greater). According to the company, Mac users must download and install a small package (known as the nupha kit) which allows iTunes to play nupha encrypted music, which sells for 99 cents a track and $8.99 an album.”